Wednesday 25 February 2015
Tuesday 17 February 2015
Frogspawn, nestboxes and muddy feet
Just back from a great family visit to Hakeford Woods today. We're looking after a lovely dog for some friends this week, so we knew that she'd enjoy the space and smells, but we also had some important business to attend to.
Our youngest son Louis had been fascinated by the frogspawn at Arlington Court yesterday and we promised him that we would get some so he can watch the tadpoles growing at home. I'd spotted some last time I visited, so we collected a bit of it and have made it clear that the baby frogs will go back when they've grown.
I've recently been building some nestboxes and as it's nestbox week I thought I'd better get them finished and put up. I put the 5 boxes up in trees around the riverside meadow, need to make some more to put around the rest of the site now! I'd also like to build a barn owl box as there's a perfectly positioned oak overlooking the first meadow.
We all had a great walk, saw loads of buzzards flying overhead, nearly lost the dog and Ezra our eldest son ended up with a muddy foot after his welly stayed in the mud when he kept walking! Need to get some more wood for nestboxes now, oh and get my handbook finished!
Our youngest son Louis had been fascinated by the frogspawn at Arlington Court yesterday and we promised him that we would get some so he can watch the tadpoles growing at home. I'd spotted some last time I visited, so we collected a bit of it and have made it clear that the baby frogs will go back when they've grown.
I've recently been building some nestboxes and as it's nestbox week I thought I'd better get them finished and put up. I put the 5 boxes up in trees around the riverside meadow, need to make some more to put around the rest of the site now! I'd also like to build a barn owl box as there's a perfectly positioned oak overlooking the first meadow.
We all had a great walk, saw loads of buzzards flying overhead, nearly lost the dog and Ezra our eldest son ended up with a muddy foot after his welly stayed in the mud when he kept walking! Need to get some more wood for nestboxes now, oh and get my handbook finished!
Nestboxes built and ready to go!
Helpful children!
Wren box in the Hazel
The pond and a couple of nestboxes if you look hard enough
Nibbled cherry stones
Beautiful snowdrops
A mass of frogspawn
Happy boys
Tuesday 3 February 2015
First Visitors
Yesterday I was delighted to be able to show a couple of visitors around Hakeford Woods.
Becky Aston from Devon Wildlife Trust visited first, it was great to be able to get the opinions of a wildlife professional, she managed to successfully spot and identify lots of different plant species, many of them indicators of unimproved wetlands and pasture. With a bit of help and encouragement we should be seeing a great variety of wild flower species this spring and summer. She also found some likely otter tracks near the stream and gave me some advice about possible directions to take when trying to improve different areas for the species that we have.
Richard Irvine also came for a visit, Richard is a Forest School trainer and highly experienced outdoor educator who is based in North Devon. On our wander around the site he did a great job of finding various piles of hazelnuts and cherry stones left by some of the local residents. Richard is going to be bringing a group of teachers from the local area for a one day introduction to woodland management session later this month.
Many thanks to Becky and Richard for visiting, your advice and observations were hugely informative, interesting and encouraging. Just need to find the time to get everything done now !
Becky Aston from Devon Wildlife Trust visited first, it was great to be able to get the opinions of a wildlife professional, she managed to successfully spot and identify lots of different plant species, many of them indicators of unimproved wetlands and pasture. With a bit of help and encouragement we should be seeing a great variety of wild flower species this spring and summer. She also found some likely otter tracks near the stream and gave me some advice about possible directions to take when trying to improve different areas for the species that we have.
Richard Irvine also came for a visit, Richard is a Forest School trainer and highly experienced outdoor educator who is based in North Devon. On our wander around the site he did a great job of finding various piles of hazelnuts and cherry stones left by some of the local residents. Richard is going to be bringing a group of teachers from the local area for a one day introduction to woodland management session later this month.
Many thanks to Becky and Richard for visiting, your advice and observations were hugely informative, interesting and encouraging. Just need to find the time to get everything done now !
Sunday 1 February 2015
A few photos from 2014
Here's a small collection of photos that I've taken of the site since June 2014.
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